Electronic signal-processing often entails processing both analog and digital signals, sometimes called mixed-signal processing. Some sensors or transducers as well as natural properties or attributes, such as temperature, pressure, and the like, either constitute analog quantities or, in the case of sensors, often produce analog signals. Also, some transducers accept as inputs analog signals.
Conversely, signal-processing circuits and building blocks increasingly use digital signals and digital techniques for reasons such as repeatability, stability, flexibility, and the like, as person of ordinary skill in the art understand. To interface the signal-processing circuits with analog circuits, signal conversion circuits are used.
One type of signal conversion circuit constitutes digital-to-analog converter (DAC). DACs are typically used to accept a digital signal as an input, and to provide an analog signal as an output. Thus, DACs can provide an interface between digital processing circuits and analog circuits, such as transducers or other circuits.
Several figures of merit are used to characterize or specify DACs. Such figures of merit include resolution (the number of bits of information in the input digital signal), noise level, monotonicity, differential nonlinearity (DNL), cost, die area, power consumption, gain and offset levels and stability, and the like.
The description in this section and any corresponding figure(s) are included as background information materials. The materials in this section should not be considered as an admission that such materials constitute prior art to the present patent application.